COASTLINE
Sussex Bay Kelp Forest
Turning the tide on Biodiversity Loss
In March 2021 a local fisheries management byelaw was passed, stopping the fishing method of towing trawls along the seafloor. The Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA)’s Nearshore Trawling Byelaw now excludes trawling from 304km2 of Sussex seabed to protect essential fish and marine habitats and support sustainable inshore fisheries.
​
Sir David Attenborough welcomed the Byelaw at the time: “Sussex’s remarkable kelp forests will now have a chance to regenerate and provide a home for hundreds of species, creating an oasis of life off the coast, enhancing fisheries and sequestering carbon in our fight against climate change. This large-scale protection of over 300 square kilometres of seabed is a vital win in the fight against the biodiversity and climate crises.”
​
So a story of hope is emerging, as historic kelp forests lost for decades are beginning to flourish, demonstrating the ocean’s ability to recover when it’s protected from destructive fishing activity such as trawling.
The Future
The Climping coastline was held in a fixed position for over 200 years.
The hard defence line caused beach levels to drop as the erosion continued out of sight below the waterline. When the Environment Agency withdrew investment and began to remove wooden groyne defences the shingle was stripped away and we saw a rapid period of coastline erosion. The pace was quite startling as the beach sought to find equilibrium.
​
The Agency continues to remove structures as they become unsafe, public safety is paramount and floating wooden sections in the water can become navigation hazards for small boats.
​
The concrete walls that were hastily erected in prior centuries either as crude livestock walls or wartime defences have all but collapsed as they became quickly undermined.
The concrete cube tank traps are useful to slow the pace of erosion, but in time they will be removed entirely giving the beach a very different feeling free of the prior centuries hard engineering.
​
It is a dynamic environment and we are now seeing the beginnings of natural shingle and sand beaches that haven’t been seen in this part of Sussex for several centuries.
​
The intertidal zone is already becoming more diverse with kelp and other seaweed washed up during storms being raked through by shorebirds and corvids at low tide.
​
In the zone immediately behind the retreating beach coastal plants are beginning to establish and a new saltmarsh habitat is evolving and attracting a host of new birds.
​
This restored habitat will extend northwards to return a habitat that was lost centuries before. This will be an exciting restoration that will continue to evolve in the coming decades.
